Application of infrared thermography in the characterization of voids and honeycomb in concrete structure
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is mainly the quantitative and the qualitative analysis of a reinforced concrete slab containing two types of delaminations: voids and honeycomb, with different sizes and depths. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the paper adopts the infra-red thermography as a sounding method. It is used as a tool to estimate the change in temperature or thermal contrast induced by the presence of a defect in specimen besides using numerical simulation based on FEM to develop the prediction of temperature development in concrete structure. Findings – This study shows that the numerical methods can be used to evaluate and validate the experimental results. The coupling of the simulation and the experimentation can be of a great utility because it allows predicting the results before beginning the experimentation. Originality/value – The paper finds that the use of FEM in the prediction of temperature evolution in concrete, and the validation of the numerical simulation with the results obtained by the experimental measurements have a key importance in the study of civil engineering structure.